William S. Paxton: Nofri eager to turn SHU's fate in football around

Published 1:01 am, Sunday, June 16, 2013

The odds are stacked against the Sacred Heart football team even before the Pioneers kick off the season.

In the Northeast Conference, where schools can hand out 40 scholarships, SHU distributes around 20-something that will be spread out on a roster that figures to carry more than 150 players this year.

In a league in which football is king on most campuses, at SHU, the sport is among 31 on the varsity level, and it has to comply with the same rules and budget constraints.

Some might find it foolish to want to run a program that has produced just two winning seasons since 2004 and doesn't quite have a level playing field.

Mark Nofri calls it a dream job.

After Paul Gorham became ill in January 2012 with a lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and could no longer serve as head coach, Nofri, a trusted assistant at SHU for almost two decades under six different coaches, took over on an interim basis.

When the school announced a few weeks ago that it had severed ties with Gorham, who was out on long-term disability, Nofri was given the job for good.

"We became pretty close over the course of nine years," Nofri said of his relationship with Gorham. "He's a good guy, a real football guy, but I'm happy to be the head football coach here.

"It's the only job I've ever wanted and the only job that I looked for."

It's also a job Nofri has finally settled into after operating for more than a year with the expanded duties, but also an uncertain future about just how long the role might last.

"After doing it for 18 months, I feel real comfortable doing what I am doing, and I feel more confident about where we are headed and what we are doing," Nofri said. "I'm more organized with a plan in place."

Even after a 2-9 campaign and a few lean years prior to that, interest in the program appears to be quite strong.

The Pioneers reeled in a monster recruiting class with 74 newcomers, of which 33 will receive some portion of scholarship money. They will open practice Aug. 4 at Campus Field with 152 players on the roster.

"The coaches did a great job going out and finding kids," said Nofri, who cast a recruiting net over New England, New Jersey and even down into Maryland and Virginia looking for players.

"We all went out last year in December recruiting and brought in as many kids as we could," he added. "We kind of sold them on the program we are trying to put in place here. Obviously, last year was a year we really didn't want to talk about.

"We've put it behind us and moved forward."

When the coaches hit the recruiting trail, they took with them a simple message for recruits about the SHU football program. Maybe they can't compete with the big boys, but Nofri wanted to stress that being a Pioneer offers you a chance to keep playing while earning a quality education.

"Obviously, it's about wins and losses like most big schools, but I think here it's more about making sure the student-athlete feels comfortable with you," Nofri said. "You are taking care of them academically and can see them through four years and getting out of here with a degree."

In order to make productive use of the roster, the Pioneers will field a junior varsity team that will play at least four games this fall. In the past, SHU tried it, but usually ended up with only a JV game or two.

"(With more games), it gives them more opportunities to show us what they can do and develop with some playing time," Nofri said.

When you are trying to turn the fortunes of a program around like Nofri hopes to, you have to look high and low for ways to improve on a tight budget.

"Last year, I don't want a repeat of that, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure we have a winning season," Nofri said. "I'm very excited about Sacred Heart like I have always been. I'm pretty much a Pioneer through and through, and the big thing is the administration trusts me to get this thing straightened out and get the program turned around.

"What I am shooting for is to have consecutive winning seasons over and over and over. I don't want to have one winning season and then go back to being under .500. My goal is to be a winning program each and every year consistently."